The founders of TerraSense Analytics, which was originally launched as part of a local forestry company, had planned to use drones and artificial intelligence to detect trees that needed to be chopped down. However, in 2018, TerraSense President & Chief Technology Officer, Jozsef Hamari, attended a seminar at UBC Okanagan’s Survive and Thrive Applied Research (STAR) lab, where Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) set out a list of challenges through its Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) Program.
Through the program, which was designed to improve the Department of National Defence’s access to the creative potential of Canadian innovators, TerraSense pitched its software idea alongside 65 other companies; it was one of only a dozen or so companies selected in the first stage and was awarded $200,000 to pursue research and development of its intelligent surveillance and monitoring solutions.
“We are a defence-first tech startup that uses AI/ML (Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning) to build software to help recognize objects in multiple modes, edge computed in real time, for defence and security operations. It is inevitably quite technical,” explains TerraSense CEO, Mike McGinty, whose extensive military background was a welcome addition to the company. “It’s very niche, very specific, both in terms of domain and technology.”
Since 2018, TerraSense has been focused on creating intelligent surveillance and monitoring solutions using computer vision and deep learning technology.
Through additional IDEaS program funding and a $1 million DRDC Innovation contract with Transport Canada, TerraSense continued its upward trajectory.
In its initial years, the company was researching and developing two different proprietary products: Multi-modal Input Surveillance and Tracking (MIST) software, which leverages AI and sensor fusion in aerial surveillance, and Corona Remote Wireless Network (CRWN), which focuses on utility transmission systems.
With little technical overlap between the two products, CRWN was spun off into its own company about three years ago, leaving TerraSense to maintain its focus on defence and security applications through MIST.
In May 2022, the company was awarded an additional IDEaS program contract, the largest in the program’s history, valued at a record $8.976 million dollars, to further its development of MIST.
“Since then, we’ve received an additional $2.8 million and we are one of only 3 companies that have gone to the culmination stage of the IDEaS process,” notes McGinty. “This has allowed us to be funded to build product but also to build relationships with DND and Canadian Armed Forces (CAF).”
TerraSense now also has relationships with some of the defence and aerospace industry’s largest multinational companies—including General Dynamics Mission Systems, Thales, BAE Systems, Raytheon— with whom it conducts R&D for products to enable Canadian and allied defense.
Along with its strong and supportive relationship with UBC Okanagan, which includes not only research but also recruiting staff and working with co-op students, TerraSense is also connected to KF Aerospace, with McGinty noting that “many people in the Valley probably don’t realize how big of a deal KF is in national terms.” The company has also benefited from Accelerate Okanagan’s tech ecosystem, as well as the presence and connectivity of the Kelowna International Airport.
“We make a big play of the lifestyle in the Central Okanagan, as there are lots of good reasons to live in the Valley,” explains McGinty of attracting talent to its team, which has now grown to around 30 full-time employees. “We pay a “fun bonus” quarterly to encourage people to buy their ski pass [or] buy a paddleboard. It’s meant to be seen as a lifestyle-supportive allowance for coming to the Valley.”
In its pre-commercial phase, TerraSense has started to have engagements and discussions in the UK and Australia, and the company is in the initial stages for discussion with the US market. The company will remain Kelowna-based, continuing to grow and contribute to the region’s ever-changing business ecosystem. Through its relationships and global presence, TerraSense will continue to showcase its innovative product and coherent business vision, brought to life by its most important asset: its team members.
“The existence of UBC Okanagan was a factor [in launching the business in the Central Okanagan] because it allowed incubation, acceleration, and support, and the prospect of talent and researchers,” says McGinty. “Also, the fact that there is also an emerging tech sector…all those things make it possible [to run our business] in a way that perhaps would not be possible in other parts of rural BC. The ingredients are here.”
